Figure 3.

Alcohol metabolism and gut microbiome affect epigenetic regulation in the brain. Alcohol is metabolized in the liver to acetate, which is released into circulation and enters the brain. In neurons, acetate is used by ACSS2 to generate acetyl-CoA, boosting histone acetylation, and gene expression involved in memory (Mews et al., 2019). SCFA metabolites are produced by bacterial fermentation of fiber. The three most abundant of these (acetate, butyrate, and propionate) have been shown to regulate the catalytic activity of HAT and HDAC enzymes that influence gene expression and behavior (Kiraly et al., 2016). Created with www.BioRender.com.